Re: Rear axle help (54-55)

Posted by DavidPackard On 2024/4/2 0:27:20

With respect to our difficulty of removing rear axle hubs:

The tire kicking wisdom among the Brand X crowd is to loosen the axle nut to next to nothing and drive the car around the block. The claim is the hub will loosen during the short drive. The Brand X rear axle design is quite similar, that is tapered & keyed, albeit a much smaller in size when compared to Packard size(s).

I bought a ‘rubber’ elbow from Home Depot’s plumbing department. The plan is/was to clamp the elbow onto/around the hub and fill with penetrating oil up to the height of the axle . . . square key ‘up’ just in-case there’s a direct path for the fluid. I haven’t tried it yet, but will in the future. My plan was to try the penetrating oil trick many hours before the barbarism of the hub puller. Once wetted with oil some care would be needed if ‘open flame’ heat is subsequently applied. Perhaps the process should be wet, wait, and then drive around the block (nut reinstalled with minimum torque) before the puller is used.

I suspect we have all been influenced by our professional experiences . . . a fraction of my experience was to avoid anything that could Brinell a bearing. Since most of the force generated by the hammer blow is ultimately reacted at the bearing Brinelling damage a distinct possibility. I suspect the useful life to the bearing would be reduced, but after 75 years no one would ever know, or likely care, if a bearing failure is premature. In work we were especially obsessed with bearing damage during transportation of our product, and would frequently remind each other how the ‘metal never forgets’ . . . even in the back of a truck on the way to a New York airport . . . those roads being noted for ‘pot holes’ the size of national parks.

From a bearing durability stand-point a hub puller that had a provision for a hex socket that would be used with a modern impact wrench, in my mind, would be superior to the ‘hammer only’ puller design, especially if the current bearings are intended to be packed and reused.

dp